Roma moved clear at the top of Serie A after beating Sampdoria 2-0 last night as struggling Milan came back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 in stoppage time at Bologna.

Mehdi Benatia’s wonderful 65th-minute solo goal and a Gervinho strike gave Roma a hard-fought three points at Sampdoria.

Morocco defender Benatia scored the goal of the night when he dribbled past three defenders before somehow crashing home his first Roma goal as he fell to the ground.

Roma, whose manager Rudi Garcia was sent to the stands just after the hour, kept up their 100 percent record and moved up to 15 points, two clear at the top after Napoli drew 1-1 with lowly Sassuolo.

Massimiliano Allegri’s Milan looked certain to lose their second match in a week following two goals from Diego Laxalt and another from Jonathan Cristaldo after Andrea Poli gave Milan a 12th-minute lead.

But two goals in two minutes from Robinho and Ignazio Abate, who struck in stoppage time, enabled the away side to miraculously save a point in a thrilling finale.

Blerim Dzemaili gave Rafael Benitez’s Napoli the lead with a fierce drive after 15 minutes, running on to a poor clearance to thump home the opener.

But Sassuolo, hammered 7-0 by Inter at the weekend, fought back and grabbed a deserved draw through Simone Zaza, who beat Pepe Reina with a high shot from an acute angle on 20 minutes.

They could have easily come away with all three points had Reina not made a couple of smart saves in the second half.

Champions Juventus came from a goal down to win 2-1 at Chievo in a match marred by controversy over a wrongly disallowed Chievo goal with the scores level.

Fabio Quagliarella had equalised for Antonio Conte’s side in the 47th minute after Cyril Thereau had given the home side the lead when Alberto Paloschi tapped in what he thought was the home side’s second.

But despite being at least a metre onside for Simone Bentivoglio’s original shot, the goal was ruled out for offside. Alessandro Bernadini then knocked in an unfortunate own goal from Paul Pogba’s cross to compound Chievo’s misery.

The most entertaining game of the night game at the Stadio Ennio Tardini where Parma beat Atalanta 4-3. Six goals were scored in the first half and Parma’s Amauri was sent off just after the interval.

In other matches, Lazio beat Catania 3-1, Torino drew 2-2 with Verona and Cagliari drew 1-1 at Livorno.

Inter and Fiorentina will test out their title credentials when they meet at the San Siro this evening.

Results

Serie A

Bologna 3
Laxalt 33, 52; Cristaldo 62;
Milan 3
Poli 12; Robinho 89; Abate 90;

HT: 1-1. Att: 20,000.

Chievo 1
Thereau 28;
Juventus 2
Quagliarella 47; Bernardini 65og;

HT: 1-0. Att: 11,000.

Lazio 3
Ederson 4; Barrientos 6; Hernanes 90;
Catania 1
Lulic 39;

HT: 2-1. Att: 31,000.
Red card: Bellusci (C) 60.

Livorno 1
Luci 23;
Cagliari 1
Ibarbo 53;

HT: 1-0. Att: 10,000.

Napoli 1
Dzemailli 15;
Sassuolo 1
Zaza 20;

HT: 1-1. Att: 40,000.

Parma 4
Mesbah 19; Parolo 28, 40; Rosi 35;
Atalanta 3
Bonaventura 20; Denis 44; Livaja 79;

HT: 2-2. Att: 12,000.
Red card: Amauri (P) 52.

Sampdoria 0
Roma 2
Benatia 65; Gervinho 88;

HT: 0-0. Att: 24,000.
Red card: Barilla (S) 90.

Torino 2
Cerci 36 pen, 53;
Verona 2
Taleb 44; Jorginho 67 pen;

HT: 1-1. Att: 15,000.

Today
Inter vs Fiorentina - 20.45

Standings

  P W D L F A Pts
Roma 5 5 0 0 12 1 15
Napoli 5 4 1 0 12 4 13
Juventus 5 4 1 0 10 3 13
Inter 4 3 1 0 13 1 10
Fiorentina 4 3 1 0 10 4 10
Lazio 5 3 0 2 9 8 9
Livorno 5 2 2 1 7 4 8
Torino 5 2 2 1 8 7 8
Udinese 5 2 1 2 7 6 7
Verona 5 2 1 2 7 8 7
Cagliari 5 1 3 1 7 8 6
Milan 5 1 2 2 10 10 5
Parma 5 1 2 2 6 9 5
Genoa 5 1 1 3 5 8 4
Chievo 5 1 1 3 5 10 4
Bologna 5 0 3 2 7 11 3
Atalanta 5 1 0 4 6 10 3
Sampdoria 5 0 2 3 4 10 2
Catania 5 0 1 4 2 10 1
Sassuolo 5 0 1 4 2 16 1

Top scorers
5 goals: Cerci (Torino).
4 goals: Hamsik (Napoli), Rossi (Fiorentina).
3 goals: Vidal, Tevez (Juventus), Paulinho (Livorno), Callejon (Napoli), Higuain (Napoli), Palacio (Inter), Balotelli (Milan).

Next fixtures
Saturday: 18.00 Genoa vs Napoli; 20.45 Milan vs Sampdoria.
Sunday: 12.30 Torino vs Juventus. 15.00 Atalanta vs Udinese; Cagliari vs Inter; Catania vs Chievo; Verona vs Livorno; Sassuolo vs Lazio. 20.45 Roma vs Bologna.
Monday: 20.45 Fiorentina vs Parma.

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